Feds shift 1,000 tons of Pacific cod from trawlers to small boats and pot fleets

The National Marine Fisheries Service will shift 1,000 metric tons of this year's Pacific cod from trawlers to hook-and-line, pot and small-boat fleets in the Western Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, starting at noon Tuesday, Oct. 13.

The agency projects the trawl fleets will leave that cod in the water, while some of the smaller fleets have nearly run out. As of Oct. 3, Bering Sea boats under 60 feet fishing hook-and-line or pot gear had caught 99 percent of their share, with 29 tons left. Western Gulf pot boats had landed about 96 percent of their original allocation.

The overall catch limit does not change. Every ton taken from a trawl sector goes to a fixed-gear sector through Dec. 31. In the Western Gulf, where those fleets work largely out of Sand Point and King Cove, the shift is 650 tons: trawl catcher vessels give up 550 tons and trawl catcher-processors 100, while hook-and-line boats gain 250 and pot boats 400, according to the Western Gulf rule.

In the Bering Sea, 350 tons move from trawl catcher vessels, which had 1,678 tons still uncaught as of Oct. 3, to the under-60-foot boats, raising their share from 4,207 to 4,557 tons, under the Bering Sea rule.

It is the third boost this year for the Bering Sea small boats, after 930 tons on April 2 and 935 tons on Sept. 1. Last year's Western Gulf transfer came Dec. 15, 2025, and moved 220 tons.

NMFS waived prior notice and public comment, saying the latest catch data only became available Oct. 5 for the Western Gulf and Oct. 7 for the Bering Sea. Waiting "would not allow for the full harvest of the Pacific cod TACs by the sectors with harvesting capability," the agency said in the rules, which were signed by Shannon Bettridge, acting director of its Office of Sustainable Fisheries.